Don't give these out:

Unwrapped caramel apples
Pencils
A warm, sweaty handful of raisins
Popcorn balls
A 10-inch length of dental floss
Gospel tracts
Dried fruit
Pennies
Toast
Soy sauce packets
Razor blades

Any others?

Tacoma has been trying to shed its industrial image for quite some time, but now Johns Hopkins University researchers have to go label all five of our public high schools "dropout factories."

My problem with the report: That sounds so negative. Just imagine the pollution and grime that people associate with factories.

Plus, I'd expect "dropout factories" to be much more productive in their manufacturing of dropouts. Haven't they heard of an assembly line? After Tacoma's dropouts are forged, the "dropout factories" are left with their No. 1 byproduct: The 60 percent of students who stick around until senior year.

In a time of tight profit margins, I'll bet the "dropout factory" shareholders are none too pleased to learn about that level of inefficiency!

“We’re going to have the most kick a** coalition of puppets.”

That's the word from Tom McCarthy, the organizer of Peace Action Coalition of Tacoma, who told GritCity special correspondent Melissa Santos that puppets add a special kind of energy to political demonstrations.

Hmm ... Kinetic?

The group is heading to Seattle to a peace march tomorrow. One of the puppets they're taking with them will be a 35-foot-tall backbone. “It’s suggesting to the politicians that they should get one,” McCarthy said. (Snap.)

Why do you care? Because the idea of puppets violently enforcing peace is news you can use. Plus, it's funny. And maybe this guy will be there:

Peace, love and the "eat it" hand signal.

Santos reports that dozens of vehicles emblazoned with peace signs and other political messages will convene at the Tacoma Dome Station at 9:30 a.m. The march begins at noon at Judkins Park in Seattle and continues to Occidental Park. Look for the Tacoma representatives heading up I-5 circa 10 a.m.

When we saw the sign last week telling us the Murray Morgan Bridge would be closed until October 34th, we should have known it was referring to an unreachable date with destiny for the crumbling icon.

But a little research shows that October 34 isn't such an uncommon date.

It first turns up in the 1897 publication "Thurman's Rules for Reckoning Time" (with Examples and Illustrations by C.T. Thurman).

But if you're going to be reckoning with time, you better pay attention to the modern-day usage that truly highlights the date's importance:

Tacoma has some talented dancers. Not like the dime-a-dozen exotic dancers of Portland or the dancearexic ballerinas of Seattle (although we have some of those, too and love them just the same) ...

Today we gather to celebrate the sidewalk sandwich board dancers. The ones who wear headphones over their pizza chain ballcaps, crank up their tape players and dance their hearts out near busy intersections.

They may not be able to twirl on tippy toes or hang by one leg from a pole. But they can and do dance with more verve than a drunk bridesmaid. And they do it for hours-long shifts, through rain, wind and obscenely unoriginal gestures from high school boys.

Perhaps it started with Ben Simon, the "gyration sensation" from Tacoma that grabbed KeyArena by the toupee in 2002 and wouldn't let go until every Sonics fan and their mistress had seen how SuperFreaky 300 pounds of security camera salesman could be.

Photo by the AP, groove thang by Simon.

Simon paved the way for dancers like Bonnie Miller, a 26-year-old who, when interviewed here, wouldn't even stop dancing to talk.

Standing at the corner of 38th and Pacific, she mused: "If I stand still sometimes my back hurts. If I move it makes time go faster.”

That's the kind of logic that made Einstein a genius, ladies and gentlemen.

So today, let's take 10 minutes from time spent thinking of naughty puns for the best T-shirt ever to salute the best performance art minimum wage can buy. Amen.

Got a favorite sidewalk dancer? Tell us about him or her here.

Update: Here's a dancer on 38th and Pine, shot by Josi, who notes the music is from his car (Jens Lekman, thankyaverymuch). "Fans of the movie 'Clerks' will notice his moves have a striking resemblance to those used by Silent Bob during the infamous breakout dance scene."

The Northwest's most legendary character might have lived in Bonney Lake all along. No, it's not Sasquatch.

The story of D.B. Cooper, the everyman bandit who jumped out of a passenger jet with $200,000 in 1971, was recently named the world's No. 3 mystery by a British newspaper.

But the mystery might be solved after a story in New York magazine about a man's claim that his brother, Kenneth Christiansen, may have been the secretive skydiver. News Tribune reporter Mike Archbold followed up.

I'm fascinated by the mystery, but my favorite part of the whole story is this: On the hijacked flight between Portland and SeaTac, Cooper glanced out a window, surveyed the ground below, and casually mentioned to his hostage flight attendant, "Looks like Tacoma down there."

Oh great. We're reporting that the Murray Morgan Bridge might be closed soon.

Washington Secretary of Transportation Paula Hammond is speaking to the Tacoma City Council at this afternoon's study session. City sources say she's expected to announce that the state will close the 94-year-old Murray Morgan Bridge.

Bad for Murray, probably good for the value of this Beautiful Angle poster from 2003. Right now it's listed at 55 bucks.

Update: The unnamed city source was right: The bridge will be closed to protect something like "the safety of life," according to Hammond.

As you know, we normally don't write too much about clothing ... absence of clothing, sure. Putting and keeping it on? Not so much.

But today's an exception. We've learned that the multibajillion dollar corporation we work for (and love!, btw) is willing to part with nearly two dozen 10 dollar bills in order for little old us to make and give away a limited number of T-shirts.

Now, I know how much all you designers love the idea of logo contests. Don't worry. That is not where this is going. Unless, you know, you really love us.

I just want you to say something funny. Go on. It's your turn to tap dance. Give me your best one-liner. Or your favorite comment written or read here. Or, hell, elsewhere. Or a non-sequiter. We love those.

Is this vain to think that somewhere in your brain, there's a cell that retains a fond memory of your time with us? Almost certainly. And that's why I encourage you to say something mean* if that's all you can muster. Make my day!

Come up with something really brilliant, and it might end up on that T-shirt. And I'll save you one!

Do it or I'll get you.

*About Laura.

I like to think all of us who live here are tough and feisty like this little truck. Does our city get any royalties from letting Toyota use our name so much?

Gentlemen, take note: Our favorite barroom sketch artist, Teddy Haggarty, (and his production team) shot a commercial for the one and only Tight Cuts. The commercial should start appearing on Comcast soon, if rumors are to be believed.

Could this be it? We can't be sure...

Not responsible for lost or stolen boyfriends.

In other news, Forza Coffee Co. has answered the call for another coffee house within walking distance of Cole's house. That's right: Their south 12th location opened today. I'll have a full report on the quality of their 12 oz. Americanos with milk tomorrow.

And according to some trustworthy-looking Tacoma Beer Society members, Steilacoom Wine and Brew is expanding their delectable offering of, of course, beer and wine soon. Allegedly, come Dec. 1, they'll open a new, larger storefront a couple of blocks away from their current location. If true, I think this calls for a party. I'll make the phone calls and let you know tomorrow, when they're open.

After swearing a vow of secrecy, Niki and I had the pleasure of meeting the Tacoma Gnome this week for his first face-to-face interview. The gnome has been documenting his travels throughout our city on the Tacoma Gnome blog ever since he slipped out of his backyard last month. Followers can't seem to get enough of this hairy little outsider, who offers a fresh perspective on the places in Tacoma that we often take for granted. Also, he drinks.

Here's what the gnome had to say:

Gnome: Thank you, Cole, for being Tacoma's Judith Miller and being willing to go to jail to keep your gnome sources secret.

Niki: I'll go to jail, for sport.

Cole: So why Tacoma, Gnome?

Gnome: There's all this talk of renaissance and rebuilding, I wanted to come check it out. After viewing Web sites like GritCity and Exit133, I decided it would be fun to visit.

Cole: In a few words, how would you describe Tacoma?

Gnome: Delightful, diverse, wonderful.

Cole: Any words that start with a G?

Gnome: Grand.

Cole: Any other G-R words come to mind?

Gnome: I don't have a dictionary with me.

Cole: Maybe, uh, gritty?

Gnome: I don't know if I've seen it as gritty.

Cole: But you'd agree that it's certainly more gritty than it is exity or spewy or thricey or freitasy or hanbergy?

Gnome: Tacoma is all of those things, too.

=> Read more!

So, we kicked Kelly out of the country this week and sent her to Paris to be our temporary European correspondent just to keep things interesting. Then we told her she had to pay for the whole excursion. MWAH HA HA HA HA! Joke's on us though, because she seems to be enjoying it.

She arrived Tuesday and has already seen many Frenchy sites:

And dined on Frenchy delicacies:

However, her first dinner in Paris was a peanut butter sandwich she made while still in Tacoma. Way to be thrifty, Davenport.

She's even experienced her first Tacoma-related incident while in La Cité d'Amour:

I sat next to some folks from Vancouver, B.C., at dinner and they knew someone from Tacoma getting married in Paris this week. They had no disparaging remarks about our fair city, either. Vive la Tacoma!

We'll keep you updated on her whereabouts and experiences as GritCity's French Ambassador.

A headline like "Can they beat a dying bridge, bare derriere?" comes along but once a lifetime.

The first 10 times I read the headline, from Dan Voepel's column, I tried to imagine how one would remove a bridge's pants and subsequently beat it ... it being the bridge, of course ... which was both terrifying for its Photoshopping potential and ... just terrifying.

But this morning I conquered my fears and read the column. Turns out, the city once had a plan to market itself to San Francisco with billboards comparing us and them. That's where the bridge thing came in. As for the buns:

...the fourth billboard – the coup d’grace – pictured Dale Chihuly withdrawing one of his signature pieces from a fiery furnace. Next to it, a close-up of a tattoo artist’s hand applying an “I (Heart) SF” design to a derriere. The headline: Tacoma: Glass Artist, SF: “A word that rhymes with glass” Artist.

In case you needed help visualizing that one. Photo courtesy of Dan Voepel, who didn't elaborate on why he had posession of this photo.

Again, I misread and thought the tattoo artist would be working on Chihuly's buns, which seemed both odd and ... again, terrifying.

The short and dirty of the column is this: Tacoma may soon have a Seattle group doing our marketing.

The strategy outlined in a draft scope of work calls for a strong, cohesive message about Tacoma. Those messages will fold into a media relations outreach campaign to increase “coverage of Tacoma as an investment opportunity for a myriad of corporations and other economic development drivers.”

Hmmm... well, I know a few writers they should call first.

A quick look at today's forecast shows this cute little angry cloud. Why is this tiny puff so crabby?

But once our GritCitSat zoomed out, I realized the true horror bearing down on us and felt compelled to offer this public service advice: If things go haywire and the power goes out and Internet connections fail, stay tuned for continuous news updates at TheNewsTribune.com.

Reno Rosi dishes out spaghetti at Bimbo's in this 1976 TNT file photo.

That's a direct quote from the story. Apparently, the City of Tacoma owns the secret recipes to the old pasta sauces conceived by Bimbo's. When the city bought the building on Pac Ave., it also acquired the magic formulas.

This gem from business reporter C.R. Roberts:

It was said that the seasoned sauce pots themselves provided character to the taste of the sauce, as if the DNA of the Harding administration somehow lingered within its essence.

If you have an idea on what to do with the sauces, e-mail c.r.roberts@thenewstribune.com with “sauce” in the subject line.

Dear Midwesterners who move to Seattle, then to Tacoma because it's cheaper, then back to Seattle and write about it,

Please stop.

Allow me to tell you a story. One time, this guy tried to pick a fight with my dad, who politely declined, saying it'd be a waste of his time. The guy waited a few hours before sneaking up behind my dad and bashing his teeth out with a rock. Then, and only then, did my dad beat him silly. (Or maybe he passed out. I can't recall.)

With that in mind, read the latest therapy byproduct, thanks to Crosscut: "Tacoma has a long-standing rivalry with its well-endowed sister city to the north, or perhaps it's an inferiority complex. During the three years I lived in Tacoma, I heard a lot of talk about what Tacoma could do to be more like Seattle (or better than Seattle)..."

(Well-endowed, huh? Somebody wasn't paying attention to class on Monday.)

It gets better: "Tacoma never fully recovered from this 'could have been' history; living there, you feel as if your city thinks it is an undiscovered genius, like Basquiat looking for an Andy Warhol to recognize him."

In the last two years, I've read enough of these to make my fists tense - in a figurative sense, of course!

So, yeah. Drop the rock.

Signed on behalf of,
All us slack-jawed but artistically inclined local yokels who just can't seem to get it together enough to emulate Seattle enough to please ... ?

Niki wrote this, but I'm going to take the credit...

'Brad Allen' at the Weekly Volcano reports that beer could be up to $14 or $16 a sixer by winter. This is disturbing for two reasons: 1) Winter is one of the top four seasons for beer consumption and 2) I will not pay more than $2 for 16 oz. of beer .... unless I am at a bar, baseball game, rodeo, Elks Lodge, foreign country, airplane or Thanksgiving at my grandma's house. *shudder*

Rest assured, folks. The Yakima Herald Republic reports this morning that "consumers may have to pay an additional 25 cents to 50 cents per sixpack of craft beer."

Phew.

Oh, that estimate was from Larry Sidor, brewmaster at Deschutes Brewery in
Bend, Ore.

Mmmm. Beer.

No matter what the cans tell me, I will always refuse to believe that Rainier Beer is brewed in Irwindale, Calif.

If you were ever interested in doing strange things with electricity in a group setting, you're going to have to wait until March: Tacoma's own Dorkbot group, started just last summer, is taking a short break.

Photo by Russ Carmack

From co-founder Laura MacCary:

We are very sorry to do this, but we must delay reviving dorkbot Tacoma a bit longer. We are hoping to find a venue that's available until later at night, and perhaps someplace where you can get a drink or snack as well ...

From me:
Art + Electricity + Drinks + Snacks = Fun. Remember that one.

We'll keep you posted. In the meantime, you're going to have to play by yourself*.

*By, not with.

This morning, I heard from Scott Fontaine, who writes the Word on the Street blog, that he received a frantic e-mail from a contractor in Iraq. It went something like this:

Dude, I found a photo of a coffee chick on your blog and was so excited. You wouldn't believe how many sites are blocked by a firewall over here... But then I lost it! Help me out!

Geez. It's like, first they're swept away to a land with no drive-thru coffee stands. Then, when they do get coffee, it's probably Folger's crystals. To add insult to injury, they can't Google "Black Water," "Valhalla" or "Cutter's Point" without getting investigated.

So, this one's for the boys and girls of the United States Military and its affiliated contractors who crave a nice, big cup of coffee:

Coffee for you, photo by Karie Hamilton.

And this one's for those of you who miss the unpredictable climate of the Pacific Northwest, which necessitates dressing in layers:

When Troy Christian opens his new restaurant, Speakeasy, at the Walker Condominiums, I'm going to ask for a table near the third window to the left. That window used to be mine.

My room at the Walker, acrylic on paper, 2001

That was back when I rented a studio apartment full of lovely amenities such as a sink and a stove in the closet.

On the Tour of Urban Living on Sunday afternoon, I saw the madeover Walker features a wine cellar, a sauna and a workout room. It will even offer room service from the restaurant, which Sunday gave visitors a taste of what's to come with lamb and prawns and caviar and wine.

Gone is the smell of musty old people. Gone is the caged bird in the lobby. Gone is my neighbor Fred, who would dig through the apartment trash to give me presents like a modern-day Boo Radley.

A fancy feast at the Walker, pizza on plate, circa 2000.

(For Christmas one year, he left a half-eaten box of cookies at my doorway. Of course I didn't eat them. But I couldn't throw them away either, because I knew he'd find them again.)

The Walker has gone to a better place. I didn't recognize it. And I wouldn't be able to afford to live there.

But I also know that anytime I go out to dinner and sit down near the window, I'll be able to reclaim my old view and, at least for an hour, catch a glimpse of Tacoma the way I used to see it.

Update: For more on the Walker, read what Devona had to say in Open House.

Best quote of the film: "I'm tired of hearing about how gritty Tacoma is. We must steal the grit from Tacoma and destroy it."

*World blog premiere*
– Click on the photo to watch the film at YouTube. –

And speaking of the Tacoma Film Festival, I'm proud to say that GritCity must have an eye for good movies: Back in March, we highlighted Best Local Film award winner GPS: The Movie.

AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster

As reported by MSNBC, the Council of Better Business Bureaus says hundreds of people are falling victim to a scam that targets people who love puppies. And everybody loves puppies, so no one is safe.

No one.

The scam targets users of sites like PuppyFind.com and involves Nigeria and wire transfers. We Gritizens believe this is the work of actual puppies -- Puppy Masterminds, if you will -- who caught onto the fact that their cuddly-wuddlyness makes people dumbstruck and gooey in the head.

See?

We're onto you, dog.

Awwwwww.....Whose a good dog?! You're a good dog!!

Where do I send my money?

Meet Jessi Favors, a barista at Hot Chick-a-Latte in Spanaway.

Chick-a-boom-boom by Favors, photo by Karie Hamilton

She wrote an op-ed earlier this week responding to the pitchfork-toting soccer moms who just don't get that she's not serving coffee in her knickers because she wants your husband. She's doing it because she wants your husband's money.

At any rate, we salute Jessi and others who brave the cold and risk the chance of a steam wand malfunction to deliver superior service (and not, we stress, in the Thomas Chelone-the-excited-RV-guy sense of the word.)

In celebration, we've compiled a list of jobs that would not be possible if your uniform was an apron and a smile. Please feel free to add your own.

Racoon catcher
Trapeze acrobat
Blackberry bramble remover
Yoga instructor
Firefighter
Bullrider

If you're bedridden or under house arrest, it's quite an ordeal to go out to a movie. So the Grand Cinema and Click Cable TV have announced an exclusive playback arrangement for eight Tacoma Film Festival features, just for people like you.

Click customers can watch the films anytime they want from Oct. 15 through the end of the year on local video-on-demand, for free.

Or there's always YouTube.

=> Read more!

I have two tickets that I can't use today. And I hate to waste things when children in far away places are starving for film festivals.

I'll give them to the first person who e-mails me and asks for them: cole.cosgrove@thenewstribune.com.

Clarification: These tickets are good for entry into one of today's films, not tonight's awards ceremony. Sorry!

Nationally syndicated columnist Dave Barry has an ongoing Q&A about his fake run for president, and recently A'd this Q from a Tacoman:

If you are only a few percentage points away from the leader and have photos of him or her entering a motel room with a German Shepard, then have photos of them coming out thirty minutes later with lit cigarettes, would you use them? – powersthatbe, Tacoma

Barry: I would have no choice, because smoking is just plain wrong.

Cosgrove: For the sake of every Tacoma politician and German Shepard, let's hope this question is hypothetical.

I've been getting this "go read the blog" answer for a while. Want to know where I'll be this weekend? Go read my blog. Want to talk about sports? Go read the blog. Want to "interact" with "people"? Go read the blog.

But today brought a new and fun twist. I called a city council member to ask about the rich history and culture of South Tacoma Way for a feature story. Here's what went down:

Me: "Hi, good sir whose name I am redacting for publication on my blog. Have I reached you at a bad time?"
City council member whose name is redacted for publication on my blog: "I do not appreciate the way the paper attacked me this morning. Go look at Jason Hagey's blog. I have NO interest in talking to you."

Click.

I miss the days when city council members just used to told people to f*&# off.

As a side note, I'm hoping to capitalize on this new and exciting blog marketing tool, and will be looking to make some important people very mad in the coming days.

Washington is a wild and wonderful place, isn't it? It's the kind of place where kind-hearted folk worry about pygmy rabbits' sex lives and noxious weeds and those charming little rats we call squirrels.

On Tuesday, wildlife biologists set free seven Western gray squirrels, a species that's become rare as the Eastern gray squirrel has invaded, burying all the nuts the Western gray squirrel was looking for.

Anyway! It's OK because a few deep pockets have ponied up (ponies! you don't see those roaming wild anymore!) $500,000 to save the Western squirrel.

So far, that works out to $71,428.57 per squirrel.

You little guys better get to breeding. Like rabbits.

This morning on the way to work, I had to veer to avoid hitting someone who appeared to be texting her way to vehicular homicide. Was it one of those evil teenagers I keep hearing about on the TV? Nope. It was a sextagenarian.

Kevin thinks we should get off our cell phones while in line at the grocery store.

I'll take it a step further: If you wear bifocals, don't touch your cell phone while operating a motor vehicle. I'm sorry, Gentry, but that goes for the iPhone, too.

This public service announcement has been brought to you by the AARP insurance board.

As a fan of Tacoma icons, this makes me kind of sad: The Biz Buzz reports that a developer plans to demolish the Little Holland hamburger stand to make way for new buildings.

If we continue at this rate, MultiCare will put a parking garage on top of Frisko Freeze, the Transportation Department will pave over Bob's Java Jive, and ClearChannel will sell advertising for the roof of the Tacoma Dome.

I hope I didn't give anyone any ideas.

I've seen people dancing at Masa sweat. And I've seen people eating hot dogs and drinking beer at The Red Hot sweat.

There's no shame in that.

But now you can sweat on Sixth Ave. while raising money for a good cause:

Today is the deadline to enter the Off The Ave three-on-three basketball tournament, which is Saturday.

Did you feel the blasts? Where were you? What did you think was happening?

Since we're about a half-mile away from Atlas, the concussion rattled the windows and shook the dust out of the ceiling tiles here at The News Tribune.

Drew Perine posted some photos at Lights & Sirens. There's video on the main News Tribune site.

Share your thoughts ...

Thanks, RR, for pointing us to this YouTube clip – the "money shot" is at 4:15.

Businessmen are a creative bunch. Ordinarily, I wouldn't post about the slick ways they drum up biz, but this week brought two new and interesting approaches that I think you'd like.

The first occurred earlier this week at the RV show at the Tacoma Dome. If you have time, check out the video.

If not, here's the Cliff's Notes: The very excited Thomas Chelone promises that the purchase of an RV comes standard with "professional people to service you as you go down the road for years to come.”

The second example is slightly more touching -- figuratively, at least. This morning from 7:30 to 9 a.m., Lincoln Kopetski, who works as a financial adviser, paid for the coffee orders of everyone who walked into Origin 23 (nee Firehouse Coffee).

All told, he bought 80 cups, and he says he plans to do it again. (And invite us, naturally.)

The barista who answered the phone said Lincoln was "paying it forward." Not sure if pun is intended.

I hate the word fete. I'm not sure why I used it.

Basically, what I'm trying to say: There's a lot of stuff going on this weekend. But only one event has hired Fake Elvis to entertain and delight. I won't tell you which one – you'll have to figure that out on your own.

Friday-Sunday

TACOMA’S GREEK FESTIVAL music, traditional food and more, 11 a.m.-10 p.m. Oct. 5-6, 11 a.m.-7 p.m. Oct. 7, St. Nicholas Greek Orthodox Church, 1523 S. Yakima Ave., Tacoma; free admission; 253-272-0466.

OKTOBERFEST NORTHWEST “Festhalle Biergarten,” traditional bratwurst, handmade German pretzels, live entertainment on two stages, 11 a.m.-midnight Oct. 5-6, 11 a.m.-6 p.m. Oct. 7, Puyallup Fair & Events Center, 110 Ninth Ave. S.W., Puyallup; $8; 425-283-5050.

Saturday

FIFE HARVEST FESTIVAL featuring pancake breakfast, parade, vendor booths, car displays, family and children’s activities, fireworks, and FAKE ELVIS; 9 a.m.-9 p.m. Oct. 6, Dacca Park, 2820 54th Ave. E., Fife; 253-896-8688.

HARVESTFEST CELEBRATION FARM TOUR see how real farms work, 10 a.m.-4 p.m. Oct. 6; Multiple locations throughout Pierce County; Free.

FALL HO’OLAULE’A featuring live entertainment, food, island-style shopping and more, 11 a.m.-9 p.m. Oct. 6, Chief Leschi School, 5625 52nd St. E., Puyallup.

=> Read more!

What's going on here? I think it's time for a caption contest!

If you want the official explanation, as told to the FBI, read the Biz Buzz.

Three reasons we like the Tacoma Film Festival, which starts tonight:

1. Less Frenchy than Cannes.
2. Less Redfordy than Sundance.
3. More Gritty than Seattle.

Here's the schedule.

And here's a trailer for tonight's opening film, "South 5: True Grit."

=> Read more!

Here's the scoop.

I guess "the tree is destroying my foundation" is better than "oops."

I've read that the problem is that concrete cuts off a tree's access to water and other necessities of life, meaning its roots reach higher and higher. This causes cracked sidewalks and trees that aren't rooted deeply enough to withstand heavy rainfall. (But I'm not an expert, so perhaps someone who is could verify this.)

There are nine walnut trees left. What happens next?

Here's one option: RubberSidewalks made from recycled tires. (Dear God, please don't let this be a segue into another prostitute conversation.) They're designed with spaces to prevent suffocating the tree. Plus, you can cut out the bottom to fit existing tree roots.

From their web site: "According to the U.S. Dept. of Forestry, it takes approx. 70 new trees to equal the environmental benefits of just one mature tree. The avg. replacement cost per tree is $3,794.00 (detailed in the City of Boise, Idaho, Municipal Forest Resource Analysis by Center for Urban Forest Research, USDA Forest Service, Pacific Southwest Research Station)."

The good news: The city is testing them at EnviroHouse, the green building model home at the dump.

The bad news: They're really expensive.

I'm headed home to go appreciate some trees. Post some other ideas here, fellow tree-climbers.

That tree I posted about is gone. Which one of you did this?!

I was doing a little rainy-day-at-the-beach reading when I came across an interesting passage in the book "Flight" by Sherman Alexie.

It's the year 2007. The main character's drunken, dying, homeless father wakes up face to face with a huge wharf rat. The man rolls through rotten food and dog crap and rank water and moldy newspaper, then stumbles against a Dumpster. He vomits food and booze and blood. Then a couple of young people – "gorgeous tourists" – happen upon him.

"Where am I?" the drunken man asks. "What city?"
The tourist replies: "Tacoma."

Two thoughts:
1. We attract gorgeous tourists!
2. Was that our moldy newspaper he rolled through?

Worried about reading GritCity at work because of all the talk about crack and hookers?

Me too. (Seriously, what happened there?)

But you have a choice. You can read GritCity and other not-quite SFW content without anybody who writes your paycheck getting their undies in a bunch.

Direct your Firefox browser here. Type in our address. Hit the button that says "Is this good for the company?" (It is. You know it is and I know it is.)

Voila. A page comes up that looks like a Microsoft Word document but reads like the crack-addled blog you love.

What if Mr. or Ms. Man peeps over your shoulder? Mouse over the "boss button" and watch the page transform yet again, into a useful anti-procrastination page.

Cue Kip Dynamite: "I love technology. But not as much as you, you see. But I still love technology. Always and forever."

*Disclaimer: You should definitely work the amount of hours in a day that you write on your time sheet. I don't want you to get fired and lose your Internet connection, dearie!

**Note: Yes, I know this site is not new. And no, I don't care.

Here are some before and after pictures of a tree on Sixth Ave. and Tacoma.

Photos by Brett Santhuff. Photo on left from 2006.

I don't know why it was chopped. Maybe the tree had shallow roots and city officials were afraid any amount of rain would cause it to topple. Maybe they'll cut the whole thing down and it'll make a nice banister in someone's home, and generations of children will slide down it. Or maybe they got confused about pruning...

Whatever the reason, it seems a little sad. I like big green trees, and this one in particular looks like something I'd like to climb.

In June, we reported that Lupe (aka Lupita) Cervantes was selling La Costa, meaning the 9-year tradition of drag shows at the downtown restaurant on Friday and Saturday nights would come to an end.

We were wrong. More correctly, Cervantes and the buyer, who I spoke with back in June, were wrong. As far as I can tell, the menu has never changed to the American comfort food she (new owner, whose name escapes me) promised. Neither has the name. Or the fact that there's still a drag show there two nights a week.

As a side note, I was reminded to check back on this because almost every week for the past 15 or so, dozens of people have clicked on that link. I'm assuming it's from the poor souls who, upon searching for "men who look like women," and seeing the oh-so-sexy blog title "GritCity" think they've really struck gold. I understand: I do the same thing sometimes.

For those of you disappointed at the lack of X-rated pictures, here's the best I can do without getting "reassigned" to the unemployment office:

Carlatina Alvarez, Jessica Gonzalez and Kasandra Ceja, from left, soak in the applause at the close of Friday's Spanish language show at La Costa, June 23, 2006. About a half dozen performers, many from Mexico, lip synch to both English and Spanish languages pop tunes during the drag queen shows.(Janet Jensen/The News Tribune)